OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - The North American Baseball Federation (Promotion/Relegation)

ArquimedezPozo · 01-13-2023, 07:43 PM

12. The Salt Lake Gulls
Overall Record: 2309-2311, .500
Conference Titles: 9 (D4W 2007-2009, D3W 2011-2012, 2019-2021, 2032)
Division Championships: 4 (D4 2007-2009, 2019)
Last Place Finishes: 8
Original/Lowest Division: 4
Highest Division: 2
Current Division: 3

It’s hard to capture in words the excitement that gripped Salt Lake City in those first few years of the NABF, as their team defied the odds and became the ultimate symbol of what the new league structure could achieve. Salt Lake City was not used to winning baseball, an afterthought in a sprawling Pacific Coast League that tended to be dominated by clubs from CA coastal cities. But when they found themselves instead in Division 4, they took off and have never looked back.

There had actually been cautious hope for SLC even before the NABF. Careful drafting and management had given them some exciting young players, and 27 year old RF Carlos Jara had already become a star by the time the Federation began play. 1B Ben Tafoya showed promise, as did starter Alex Mendoza and SS Mike Kohler, before an achilles rupture ended his career prematurely. The move to a D4 stage launched them all into the stratosphere, though, and none more than Jara. His first season in the NABF was legendary, as he won the D4 Triple Crown out of the gate, with 48 homers, 131 RBI, and a batting line of .349/.420/.744 (that SLG remains an NABF single season record to this day). Salt Lake City ran away with the D3 East in 2007, and then again in 2008, before blowing the doors off the place in 2009 with a 96 win campaign. They won the championship in each of those seasons, conquering Memphis, then New Orleans, then Nashville.

Once in Division 3, the dominance continued: Salt Lake won 90 in their first season in the D3 West and finished a game behind San Diego, but then ripped off 101 and 95 win campaigns in 2011 and 2012, winning the Conference but losing to Malcolm Bush’s Indianapolis Clowns both times. Still, by the time 2012 came to a close, the Gulls were headed up to Division 2 once again. They were the poster children of the NABF: one of the smallest markets in the game, a team that had always had trouble staying relevant before the NABF, was suddenly a world-beater.

Sadly for Salt Lake, they storybook got darker in Division 2. As their core started to age, and free agency came calling, the Gulls had their first losing season in 2013, finishing fourth in the D2 West. Facing financial issues, the club traded Jara in the middle of 2014, on their way to a last place finish. In 2015 the club wound up in second place, but that was more due to a weak Conference than anything else, as they lost more games than they won. Cycle 4 was a disaster, as the club lost 85+ games each year, to sink back down to D3.

But instead of doing what most thought they would - sink back down to D4 - the Gulls reloaded. Those years of losing in D2 allowed them to gather some outstanding talent: CF Daniel Winchester, SP Dan Costa both debuted during Cycle 4. So, too, did superstar 1B Dennis Milligan, who quietly hit more home runs in NABF play than all but one other player (Pedro Quiroz, whose career Milligan’s largely overlapped with). Salt Lake silenced critics with a championship run in their first season back in D3, then two more first place finishes, running the table in Cycle 5 and vaulting back to Division 2.

Since then, the story hasn’t been great, but neither has it been awful. Salt Lake held on in Division 2 for a couple cycles, before dropping back down to D3, where they’ve remained since. While they’ve largely had a losing record over that span, there have been good moments, including a 2032 D3 West title. It was the franchise’s 9th, tied for fourth-most with a few teams and behind only the trinity of Boston, Baltimore, and El Paso. Salt Lake fans, meanwhile, watch and wait, no longer accepting that their team is a perennial loser.

Best Position Player: on a franchise that boasts one Hall of Famer in Carlos Jara and another possible one in Dennis Milligan, Daniel Winchester might seem like an odd choice. But both of the others’ times in Salt Lake were relatively short, while Winchester was an anchor of the club for his entire career. And while lack of longevity holds him off lists of all-time greats, his prime years were exceptional - a 30 HR, Gold Glove center fielder with seven straight 5+ WAR seasons. He deserves it.

Best Pitcher: Sean Ruiz was only a Gull for 8 seasons, but he was outstanding for the club over much of its difficult time in D2 while putting up 37.7 WAR.

Best Season: Despite all their great years, there’s really no question about this: it’s the 101 win, D3 West title season in 2011, the capper of an amazing run.

11. The New York Giants
Overall Record: 2451-2169, .531
Conference Titles: 7 (D1E 2007, 2011-2012, 2033; D2E 2018, 2023-2024)
Division Championships: 4 (D1 2011; D2 2018, 2023-2024)
Last Place Finishes: 5
Original/Highest/Current Division: 1
Lowest Division: 2

The New York Giants are one of the oldest continuous teams in the NABF, with roots stretching back well over 100 years before the Federation’s founding. As one of the top teams in the highly competitive Mid-Atlantic League, the Giants had among the game’s largest and most self-assured fanbases (though perhaps some would have used different words there). So it was something of a shock to the system when the Giants entered the NABF to an uneven first few seasons: in fact, their GM was fired in just their second season in the Federation after a surprise last-place finish largely fueled by injury.

In Cycle 2, it seemed the ship had righted itself: New York won over 90 games in each season of the cycle, winning D1 for the first time with a Series victory over the Angels in 2011, though a rematch had the opposite result the following season. One of the biggest factors in their success was a young right fielder named Max Hinkle, who had debuted in 2008 (his twin brother John emerging as a star for crosstown rival Brooklyn the following season). Hinkle was a sensation: his .371 average in 2010 remains a D1 record, but he did it with power, slugging .681 with 50 homers (also a record, but one that would be eclipsed the following season). Hinkle’s otherworldly production in the early 2010s drove a powerful Giants offense while the 1-2 tandem of Hall of Famer Mike O’Neill and Doug Trujillo kept opponents down. The Giants seemed on top of the world.

But in Cycle 3, things started to go wrong. O’Neill departed, wooed by a large contract in Montreal. Then Hinkle departed to El Paso, whose new financial resources gave them the ability to outspend the Giants.Trujillo, entering his late 30s, was no longer as effective, and neither were the Giants: they were barely above .500 in 2013, and then lost 84 and 94 games the next two seasons. In a Division 1 full of competitors, New York was the odd team out - the largest market in the US, relegated to the second-class division.

Thus began the yo-yo years, as All-Star catcher Corey Heib later called them: In Division 2, the Giants were champions, but in Division 1 they were goats. In Division 2, they won championships in 2018, 2023, and 2024. In Division 1, they finished last in 2015, 2019, and 2020. In all, between 2016 and 2025 the Giants flipped divisions four times, up and down, with fans getting whiplash along the way.

By 2025, they had re-established themselves, though, and a return to Division 1 this time was not disastrous. In fact, the club won 90 their first season back behind the great leadoff hitter Julio Blea, Rookie of the Year 2B Jose Romero, and an aging Malcolm Bush, experiencing Division 1 competition for the first time in his career. They came in second in 2025 and in an 89-win 2026, but had clearly returned strong. The team averaged about 82 wins over the next ten seasons, despite a relegation scare at the end of Cycle 8, and in 2033 won 96 games for another Conference title, this time courtesy of the incredible SS Mike Burcham, who combined Gold Glove defense with a .343/.411/.433 batting line and 8.4 WAR to win the D1 MVP. They have also since signed Matt Wood, probably already established as the greatest catcher in NABF history at just 31 years old, giving the Giants two outstanding all-around talents at the two most important positions on the diamond.

Best Position Player: this was harder than it should have been on the team that gave the league Max Hinkle: Julio Blea has slightly more career WAR over a career spent mostly with New York. But Max Hinkle is one of the three or four best position players in the Federation’s history, and much of that legacy was carved in Giants orange, so he gets the nod here.

Best Pitcher: this on the other hand is easy. Mike O’Neill is New York’s defining pitcher and one of the best in NABF history. He won 101 games for New York with a 72 FIP- and over 46 WAR in just eight seasons in New York.

Best Season: They’ve won more games in other years, but the 95 win 2011 was the team’s first championship, and the only one of its four that featured Hinkle and O’Neill in Division 1.

10. The Sacramento Solons
Overall Record: 2388-2232, .517
Conference Titles: 9 (D4W 2018-2019, 2021, 2032-2033; D3W 2024, 2034-2036)
Division Championships: 3 (D4 2021; D3 2034-2035)
Last Place Finishes: 3
Original Division: 3
Lowest Division: 4
Highest/Current Division: 2

While the Solons might not leap to mind as one of the ten greatest teams in the Federation’s history, they have an impressive record of success. Only six franchises can claim more winning seasons than Sacramento’s 20, and only three can claim more first place seasons than their 9. They’re one of the current crop of teams vying to join Baltimore as the only teams to play in all four divisions, as they prepare to play their first games as a Division 2 team in 2037.

The Solons were an original Division 3 franchise, but didn’t last long there the first time around, opening NABF play with a relegation after a 2009 last place finish with just 63 wins. The club remained mired in Division 4 for four cycles, spending the first seven seasons as a mostly middling franchise, placing second a couple times but mostly finding themselves in the middle of the pack. The only real bright spot in those years was the brilliant play of Hall of Fame CF Preston Franklin, who was 28 when the NABF began play in 2007 and gave the Solons six MVP-level seasons (and two actual MVPs).

Franklin left the club after 2015 to spend the last four seasons of his career in Atlanta and Nashville, and so there is no one player we can point to as being a catalyst for the turnaround that began in 2018. In fact the team had been performing at a high level for a couple of years already, with expected win totals higher than actual results in each of the previous two seasons; the Solons just caught up to themselves in 2018. No player collected even 4 WAR for the club that year, with SS Hector Delgado leading the team with 3.9. No one struck out 200, or won 20, or hit 40 homers. But collectively, they ended the season third in runs (690) and fourth in runs allowed (604), winning 86 games, good enough to take the D4 West. They faced off against the Baltimore Terrapins, making their first appearance, and the Terrapins won (as they’d do so often over the next four cycles). But the groundwork was there, and the Solons kept winning: in 2019 they ended with 94 wins behind stellar campaigns from 1B Allen Lockwood and SP Marcus Chiero, plus an out of nowhere MVP campaign from journeyman leadoff man Josh Hood, who hit .296/.424/.477 with 6 WAR despite hitting not a single homer all season (he had just six in his career, with half coming in a single season). Again the Solons lost in the championship, though, to Memphis in seven. In 2020, they missed the Conference title by a single game.

By recent standards, then, 2021 - 89 wins, and expected total of just 84 - was a letdown. But they ended it where they wanted to be, in first place in the D4 East, clinching a promotion, and then won their first championship while taking revenge on Baltimore for 2018. The Solons romped, winning in 5, and departed Division 4 on a high note.

The Division 3 transition was at first difficult: the club lost 88 games in 2022. But they improved to 70-84 the following year, and by 2024 they were back: an 86 win season gave them first place in the D3 West and a shot at another title just three years after their first. Naturally, they once again faced the Terrapins, who had been promoted from D4 East the same year the Solons came up from the West. The Pins were in the opening years of their incredible run, on the verge of the two greatest seasons in NABF history, and while Sacramento hung with them, they were overmatched, losing the 2024 championship series four games to two. As Baltimore moved up, Sacramento remained.

The next few years were spent in rebuild mode. After 2025, the Solons had a major regression, losing 85 games in 2025 and 84 the following season. For the next few years, the club danced around .500, without being able to establish younger talent (and missing on a couple of mid-range free agents). A pitching staff, though, began to coalesce at the turn of the 2030s. SP Vince Lipps won a Pitcher of the Year in 2029, and though subsequent seasons were not as effective Lipps proved to be a consistent back of the rotation presence. Adam Rollins, too, demonstrated reliability in the early 2030s, though his traditional stats didn’t reflect the reality well. By 2032, the Solons had become contenders again thanks to that staff and a balanced lineup that produced a top four D4 offense, and despite an 80-74 record they snuck off with the D4 West. Improvement in 2033 was pronounced, with an improved offense thanks to the emergence of on-base/power threat Alejandro Flores, who led D4 with a .407 OBP and .383 wOBA while hitting 32 homers. Though both seasons ended without a title, the back to back first place finishes guaranteed them a move up.

Rather than struggle with new competition, the Solons thrived. A prescient trade brought them a promising arm, Josh Argo, from the Senators for two low-level minor leaguers, and Argo bloomed immediately; he would go on to win both the 2035 and 2036 Pitcher of the Year awards in D3. With Argo now heading a deep rotation, the Solons held opponents to a D3 West best 644 runs in 2034, beating Nashville for their first D3 title. They repeated in 2035, as Argo won Pitcher of the Year (the first of his two consecutive). They were even better in 2036, winning 96 games while allowing a D3-best 530 runs and improving their offense as Flores had a career year. They were swept by Detroit in a disappointing series, but that made it five Conference titles in a row, and a drama-free promotion to Division 2. With two younger stars in Argo and Flores, and a solid core behind them, perhaps the Solons can do what only their old rivals the Terrapins have done before: win six Conference titles in a row.

Best Position Player: Preston Franklin, the team’s only Hall of Famer, holds a bevy of team records and is the most recognizable player in the franchise’s history.

Best Pitcher: Give Argo a few years and it might be him, but for now rotation-mate Adam Rollins winds up as the consensus choice. He has moved on to Memphis for the 2037 season, but he has arguably been Sacramento’s most stable rotation presence, and his consistency puts him at the top of the career WAR list for the club.

Best Season: It wasn’t one of their three title seasons, but 2036 saw the club win an all-time best 96 games with some outstanding individual performances, and earn promotion to Division 2.

9. The San Diego Padres
Overall Record: 2312-2308, .500
Conference Titles: 8 (D3W 2009-2010, 2025, 2027; D4W 2017, 2023-2024; D2W 2030)
Division Championships: 6 (D3 2009-2010, 2027; D4 2017, 2024; D2 2030)
Last Place Finishes: 5
Original Division: 3
Lowest Division: 4
Highest/Current Division: 2

If you want to understand the NABF in all its chaos and glory, you must understand the San Diego Padres. The Padres are among the winningest franchise in the Federation in terms of championships, tied for second behind only Baltimore, and the only non-Baltimore team to win championships in three different divisions, a feat they accomplished with a 2030 D2 win. They’ve been relegated twice (counting finishing last in Division 4 during 2021) and promoted twice. They have an almost even record, four games over .500 in a span of 30 years. They have the third-most combined MVPs and Pitchers of the Year, but only one Hall of Famer. They may not be the best team on the list, but they’re certainly the one that best defines the league.

There’s no way anyone in San Diego could have predicted their place on this list after the first 15 years of Federation play. The team had won back-to-back D3 championships in 2009-2010 (split between Cycle 1 and Cycle 2, denying the Padres a promotion), powered by the great two-way star Ryan Little. Little was an instant sensation - a 22 year old rookie at the Federation’s inception, he won D3’s MVP that season. He would go on to win the next three as well, making him one of only three NABF players with four MVPs and the only to win them in consecutive seasons. His contributions came both as a hitter and as a pitcher, in 2008 leading the division in pitching WAR with 7.5 (and winning his only Pitcher of the Year) while adding another 6.1 WAR as a position player - easily the highest single season WAR in NABF history at 13.6. As the Padres swept the Clown in the D3 series that year, Little contributed a double and a homer to win series MVP. The following season the Padres returned to the series after 91 wins to take the D3 West, and won a seven game series over Nashville.

After 2010, things went south for San Diego. The pitching staff - including Little, who declined somewhat significantly after 2012 on both sides of the ball - sank from 2nd in the division runs allowed to sixth, then lower over the next few seasons. The offense fared even worse, as the Padres were regularly among the lowest-scoring teams in D3. In 2015, the team went 60-94, and combined with subpar seasons in the first two years of Cycle 3 found themselves kicked down to the lowest division. They met with early success in Division 4, winning 86 games and the Conference in 2017 then making it past the Zephyrs for their third trophy. But even then, the team sank quickly: in Cycle 5 they never won more than 70 games, ending the final year of the cycle (2021) with an abysmal 63-91 record, “relegated” despite no place to go.

The next nine seasons, though, would be extraordinary. In 2022, the Padres fought to an even 77-77 record largely through career years: journeyman SP Allen Clary put up 4.1 WAR and an 84 FIP-, better than he’d ever done by a decent margin; veteran Gordie Bandy nearly matched that despite an even less successful career. OF Dustin Weaver had the first of two excellent seasons in SD, his first (and last) two good seasons anywhere. It all would have been easy to write off, except they got even better in 2023, picking up another two-way great Nick Goodwin for his age 30 season while young 2B Rich MacDougal competed for Rookie of the Year and starter Philippe Galois won Pitcher of the Year with an out of nowhere season. The Padres snuck into first place that season, winning 84, losing to Charlotte in the championship.

In 2024, the Padres won just 81 games but still took 1st in the D4 West, and this time they didn’t miss, downing Memphis in seven to earn promotion back to Division 3. While most observers expected the club to bounce back down instantly, they stuck, and they won. In 2025 that was done in dramatic style: the regular season ended in a three-way tie for first in the D3 West between San Diego, Calgary, and Phoenix. Calgary had the best record against the other two, giving them a bye in the three-team playoff. San Diego got by Phoenix, and then drubbed Calgary to secure the 2025 Conference title. The Ottawa Champions beat them in the series, but San Diego showed they weren’t just going to roll back down to D4. And they didn’t: an 83 win second place team didn’t inspire but certainly didn’t embarrass, and then came 2027.

The big offseason development for San Diego was the acquisition of former Boston 3B Steve Bay, who responded to a move to D3 with his best season in years. Rich MacDougal got on base at a .400 clip, and Nick Goodwin had the best year of his later career, with 29 homers and 102 RBI at the plate while throwing 191 innings, putting up 5.1 WAR and allowing only three home runs. The Padres won 90 games, the only time in franchise history they’ve reached that mark, and won the D3 West by 13 games before defeating New Orleans for their fifth crown, and third in D3. The victory moved them up to Division 2 - just six years after losing Division 4 in Cycle 5, the Padres were at an unprecedented level.

They kept winning in D2 - a slightly sub-.500 2028 gave way to a strong second place in 2029 led by journeyman rotation anchor Tom Sutton and young ace Scott Wedell, who won the division’s Pitcher of the Year. In 2030 they improved even further, thanks especially to the incredible second season of young starter Pedro Llopiz. While not beloved by teammates or fans (he famously denigrated the city of San Diego in an interview immediately after one of the greatest-pitched games in NABF history, his 17 strikeout no-hitter against Columbus in early 2032) there was no denying his talent. Llopiz, who has transitioned to the bullpen after several exceptional years in the rotation, set a D2 record with his 1.66 ERA in 2030 as he struck out nearly 40% of the batters he faced, capturing the first of two Pitcher of the Year awards. But Llopiz was just one part of an incredible Padres pitching staff, with Wedell giving the club his best season and #3 starter Josh Beck putting up a 2.92 ERA, 2.67 FIP (70 FIP-) with 30% of batters striking out against him. The result was a pitching staff that was far and away the best in the Division, allowing just 3.3 runs a game with second place Toronto up at 3.8. While the offense ranked near the bottom in runs, this was one of the best run prevention teams in the game, and they were rewarded with their sixth championship, becoming the second team with titles in three divisions.

Since then, the Padres have trended downward again. Llopiz signed with Austin after the 2032 season, while Wedell departed for LA, and the Padres sunk back down the standings, finishing in fifth place in both 2034 and 2035 with fewer than 70 wins. But a turnaround 2036 gives fans room for hope, with Beck continuing to perform and with the emergence of new talents like SP Brice Asmus and RF Jason Turnquist. The Padres are proof that anything can happen in the NABF, so who knows? Maybe the next D1 team is being born right now in southern California.

Best Player: We’ll use this category specifically for the Padres, because Ryan Little could make a strong case at both of the other two below and this lets us mention other folks too. Little is among the best all-around players in NABF history and one of the great two-way players as well. No player has been more of a San Diego icon.

Best Position Player: Rich MacDougal debuted at second for the Padres in 2023 and was an All-Star level performer every season he wore a San Diego uniform. He is just barely second to Ryan Little in career WAR by a position player, and holds the franchise mark in OBP (.396).

Best Pitcher: had Pedro Llopiz worked harder to endear himself to fans and teammates, he likely wouldn’t have been traded away and might be here. Instead, this title goes to Josh Beck, who is the Padres’ all-time leader in wins, WAR, and strikeouts, while pitching all thirteen of his seasons with the Pads.

Best Season: Difficult choices for a club that’s won a lot, but without a truly dominant season. The D2 championship in 2030 stands out due to the brilliance of its pitching staff and its historic nature, so that’s the choice.

8. The Tampa Tarpons
Overall Record: 2463-2158, .533
Conference Titles: 8 (D2E 2008, 2015-2016, 2019, 2035-2036; D3E 2031-2032)
Division Championships: 4 (D2 2015, 2019, 2035; D3 2032)
Last Place Finishes: 3
Original Division: 2
Lowest Division: 3
Highest/Current Division: 1

The Tampa Tarpons are arguably the most successful Division 2 team in NABF history. Only three of their 30 seasons have been played outside the Division, during a short-lived relegation, and the Tarpons have three D2 championships, more than anyone else. Of the nine teams that have played half or more of their seasons in D2, they’ve averaged more wins and more winning seasons, and have the most Conference titles - in fact, it’s hard to find a team in any Division that’s been as successfully competent as the Tarpons. They’ll begin a new phase in Cycle 11, having been promoted to Division 1, but for now let’s look back at what got them here.

Tampa was an original D2 team due to the large population of the greater Tampa Bay region. The team was a modest success in its first few NABF seasons, finishing second in 2007 and taking the D2 East in 2008 behind ace Enrique Ubeda, 2B Mike Harris, and the great OF Roberto Nieves, Tampa Bay’s only Hall of Fame inductee to date. Nieves was a rookie in 2008, but performed admirably with a .275/.358/.488 line, 17 homers, and 26 steals while playing strong defense. A string of subpar seasons followed the 2008 first-place finish, including one of their two franchise 6th place finishes, but they were never bad, exactly - even the last place year, 2010, saw them break even at 77-77 in a competitive conference. Nieves was outstanding in those years, though he fell short of the MVP in both 2013 and 2014 despite strong arguments in favor; the team around him, though, wasn’t up to the task.

Ironically, that changed in Nieves’ worst Tampa seasons, between 2015 and 2017, as a core of younger players, supplemented by a strong bench and bullpen, propelled Tampa first to the 2015 D2 East title and then to the Division 2 Championship, a sweep of the Tijuana Potros. The season was the first for young LF/DH Nate Hicks, who had a strong run of years in the late 2010s with Tampa; he was named the 2015 Championship Series MVP after homering, doubling twice, and putting up a .944 OPS over the four game set. This was the start of Tampa’s first golden age: over the five seasons between the start of 2015 and the end of 2019, the Tarps averaged just under 90 wins a season while taking three Conference titles and two Division Championships. Hall of Famer Doug Peternek spent a few excellent years with the club in that span. Nieves, too, had a second life late in the decade, winning the 2018 MVP at age 34 with a .287/.403/.531 line, 26 homers, and a D2-best 6.3 WAR. He would go on to win his second in his final season, his only outside Tampa: in Indianapolis, Nieves carried a .900 OPS into the final week of the season and then, in the team’s 149th game of the year on September 28, suffered what turned out to be a career-ending torn labrum. He is the only NABF player to end his career in an MVP season.

Unsurprisingly, the departure of Nieves after 2020 didn’t do the club any favors. Over the next couple seasons the team fell down the standings, winning just 69 games in 2022 (the only sub-70 win season in their history, a feat no other team can claim) and ending in fifth. In all, the Tarpons finished below .500 in four straight years between 2021 and 2024, their longest stretch. Despite that, they were always relatively close to .500, and over that span finished no lower than 5th, thereby avoiding relegation. The Tarpons of the 20s were a run-prevention powerhouse, with a great starting core and a defense highlighted by 8-time Gold Glove winner Miguel Torres (who the Tarpons had practically stolen in a trade with Boston before the 2020 season). In Cycle 7 the club flirted with postseason play a couple of times, falling short.

The next decade was a tumultuous and ultimately glorious one for Tampa. In Cycle 8, despite averaging over 75 wins a season, the Tarpons were relegated for the first time in their history due to an exceptionally strong conference. The relegation was a shock to the fanbase and meant that several established players were able to opt-out of contracts. But that opened up space for some prospects, and they bloomed. The 2031 season, Tampa’s first in Division 3, brought new stars to the fore: RF Paul Leuchter, who would win a season and a Championship MVP in the coming years; the gifted defensive shortstop Willie Soto;corner IF Adrian St. Germain; rotation anchor Drew Robinson; and speedster TJ Carcone, who will likely smash the all-time NABF triples mark in the next three seasons and whose 406 stolen bases already rank in the top 15 all-time. With this young group the Tarpons made short work of Division 3, winning 90 games and the conference in 2031. In 2032 the club made an inspired trash-heap pickup of journeyman starter Josh Wimmer, who put together a season for the ages, winning his first Pitcher of the Year at 35 after a career of only barely above replacement value. The Tarpons won the Championship that season, and by Cycle 10 were back in Division 2.

In the three years since, the Tarpons - under new manager Vince Lorek - have been arguably the best franchise in the Federation.Three straight 90+ win seasons. Two Conference titles. A Championship, in 2035. Multiple individual awards. And, of course, a long-awaited promotion to Division 1, for the team that’s won more games in Division 2 than any other. Now we wait and see if this run of Tarpon brilliance comes to an end, or if they keep reaching new heights.

Best Position Player: Nieves is the clear answer, despite the multiple excellent position players currently on the club. He’s Tampa’s only Hall of Famer, and a franchise-defining player.

Best Pitcher: Tampa has never had a genuinely great pitcher, but Drew Robinson spent the entirety of his relatively short NABF career with the club, holds the team wins, winning percentage, and WAR records.

Best Season: 97 wins and a Championship is about as good as it gets, and that’s what Tampa did in 2019, Roberto Nieves’ second-to-last Tampa season, and one of his best.

7. The Seattle Steelheads
Overall Record: 2349-2226, .518
Conference Titles: 9 (D3W 2013-2014, 2018, 2023; D2W 2027-2029; D1W 2033-2034)
Division Championships: 3 (D3 2023; D1 2033-2034)
Last Place Finishes: 2
Original Division: 2
Lowest Division: 3
Highest/Current Division: 1

Only two teams in NABF history have ever won back-to-back Division 1 Championships. The first, the Los Angeles Angels, did it back in the teens and have been a D1 team through and through for thirty seasons. But Seattle is a relative newcomer to D1, and their back to back 2033-2034 titles are made all the more impressive for that. The Steelheads - who began life as the Seattle Pilots before a celebrated name change after Cycle 6 - have been a consistently competitive team; they’ve never had more than three losing seasons in a row and their 9 conference titles have stretched through every era of the Federation’s history. They’ve also been one of the most skilled run prevention teams in Federation history.

The Pilots, as they were known then, were one of the largest markets in the old Pacific Coast League and began their time in the Federation in Division 2, along with regional rival Vancouver. Vancouver got the best of those early years as they blasted their way to two D2 Championships in the first two seasons. Seattle finished just two games behind them in 2007, but sank to fourth in 2008 and then suffered the worst season of their history, a 95 loss last place finish that got them dropped to Division 3. They would spend the next four cycles in D3, regularly successful but not quite successful enough for promotion.

In those early years - in fact from the very inception of the NABF - the Pilots franchise was synonymous with 1B Danny Diaz. His presence on a lower division, sometimes losing club made him more anonymous than he should have been, but Diaz was one of the most consistently excellent stars in the game, a constant on-base and power threat. Diaz’s career .404 OBP is tenth all time, while he ranks in the top 15 all-time in homers with 468. He is the NABF all-time HBP leader. He beat you with the bat any way he could, and was rewarded for it with consecutive MVPs in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Those were good years for Seattle, as they bounced back from a 2010 last place D3 West finish to take the conference in 2013 and 2014, with 90 and 99 wins respectively, though they lost in the Championship Series in each (first to Charlotte and then to Nashville). That 2014 club added future Hall of Famer Ramon Rodriguez, creating the best 3-4 combo in the game and surrounded it with a talented group of hitters such as SS Scott Smith and LF Pat van Valkenburg. The real strength of the club, though, lay in its run prevention: a top defense and excellent rotation led by ace John Davenport and free agent acquisition Stephen Christie held opponents to 460 runs, the lowest in D3.

While the lineup remained strong in 2015, the pitching started to fall apart - Davenport remained strong, but Christie began a decline and the club finished in the middle of the pack in runs allowed and in the standings. A rebound in 2017 and 2018 led to another Conference title in the latter year, but the season ended with Seattle still searching for a Division Championship. The offseason was made worse by management’s (ultimately correct) decision not to re-sign Danny Diaz, who finished his Hall of Fame career with subpar seasons in El Paso and Baltimore.

Their next chance came in 2023, ironically with the weakest team Seattle had ever sent to the playoffs - an 89 win team that somewhat overperformed, the 2023 Pilots had few real stars but ranked in the top four in both runs and runs allowed as a couple of key players had career years (including starter Mike Tait, who benefited from a rather incredible .225 BABIP). But this turned out to be the one: despite facing a Terrapins team approaching the height of their powers, Seattle stunned D3 with a win in six games to claim their first Division title. What’s more, the victory gave them a ticket back to Division 2. Before arriving there in the 2025 season, ownership made a name change: the Pilots became the Steelheads, and coincidence or not, the team became a consistent winner.

After a couple of second place seasons back in D2, the Steelheads emerged as the top power in the D2 West, winning three straight conference titles between 2027 and 2029. The incredible Terrapins of this period beat them soundly once again in the 2027 D2 Championship, though, and despite a great four year run by starter Antonio Duran leading another strong pitching team, the club lost the next two in heartbreaking fashion - seven games each, to a powerful Chicago Whales team. But for Seattle it was enough: two Conference titles punched their ticket to Division 1 in time for the start of the 2030s. Adjustment was hard, and the club lost 91 games that first season. By 2033, though, they achieved the ultimate goal: they won the D1 West - only the sixth franchise to ever do so - and took the title four games to two over a vastly more powerful New York Giants club that won 96 games. Seattle once again was the little team that could: in the bottom third of D1 in runs scored, the pitching of Duran, ace Hector Razo, and young star Jeff Baltimore led D1 in run prevention, and kept New York’s dreaded offense down enough to win.

That brought them into Cycle 10, and in 2034 the club had one of their finest seasons, winning 93 games and the conference. Hector Razo won his second Pitcher of the Year, Duran and Baltimore were more than capable, and the Seattle bullpen was among the best in the league, leading the team to victory in seven games over Toronto, and into history as only the second team to win back-to-back D1 championships.

The club has struggled since, with a couple of losing seasons heading into Cycle 11, but this Seattle team has shown they never stay down for long. As long as they’ve got the arms, they’ll be just fine.

Best Position Player: the franchise cornerstone Danny Diaz is the only possible answer here. He is the franchise leader is effectively every major offensive categories except triples and stolen bases, and is the team’s only representative in the Hall of Fame.

Best Pitcher: for a club as dependent on pitching as Seattle has been in their history, it’s surprisingly difficult to select a best. Antonio Duran rises to the top due to his quality and his longevity while Seattle has had better pitchers, they haven’t all stayed very long.

Best Season: 93 wins, and only the second D1 team to win a second consecutive championship makes the 2034 squad a good consensus pick here.

6. The Philadelphia Athletics
Overall Record: 2473-2141, .535
Conference Titles: 5 (D1E 2010, 2025, 2027, 2032, 2036)
Division Championships: 5 (D1 2010, 2025, 2027, 2032, 2036)
Last Place Finishes: 2
Only Division: 1

When the Athletics come for you, they don’t miss. There’s only one other 5-for-5 championship team in the NABF, and that’s the St. Paul Saints… who have had losing seasons in virtually every other season they’ve played. The Athletics stand alone as the best October team in the Federation, and one of the best in all the other months, too. With a deep all-time list of legendary performers and performances, Philadelphia is one of the cornerstone franchises of Division 1, and one of just four teams to have been a member of that Division since its beginning.

Philadelphia was one of the largest markets in the new NABF, an easy Division 1 selection before 2007. But even so, amid huge D1 East markets in New York, Brooklyn, Toronto, and Chicago, they felt almost like an afterthought, especially after opening play with a couple of mediocre clubs in 2007 and 2008. 2009 was better, but the team still finished in second, a game back of the Dodgers. It was in 2010 that the first great Athletics team stepped to the fore, then, winning 93 games and the D1 East. That club was stacked, with three future Hall of Famers leading the way. Starter David Miramontes took the Pitcher of the Year that season, winning 18 with a 2.53 ERA and 71 FIP-. 3B Nate Hall was extraordinary, hitting .355/.435/.691 with 45 homers and an 8.7 WAR, only losing out on the MVP because of Max Hinkle’s record-setting season in New York. And young shortstop Mike Minyard - the greatest shortstop in NABF history and the face of the Athletics for the next fifteen seasons - had his breakout campaign, hitting .312/.384/.473 with 20 homers while taking the first of his seven Gold Gloves, among the most by any shortstop. Philadelphia beat the Angels, in the second year of their amazing five year run, for the franchise’s first championship.

Championships bookend Mike Minyard’s time in Philadelphia, as the club spent the next 15 years circling around the .500 mark - five second place finishes, two last place finishes, and an average record of 78-76. Miramontes moved on after 2013, to re-establish his amazing career elsewhere, while Nate Hall (already 30 when the NABF began) also left the club after the 2013 season, spending part of 2014 with San Francisco before retiring. Minyard remained a productive offensive and defensive contributor well into his 30s, and was joined in 2014 by a young RF named Brent Byrd, who would soon establish himself as one of the all-time greats, combining strong defense (6 GGs in right) with prodigious gap power: Byrd is fourth all-time in doubles, NABF-wide. By 2022, catcher Corey Cerrone joined him as a team leader, winning the first of his record eight career Gold Gloves at catcher (a record he holds jointly with Alex Afan and Miguel Torres) that year. While never a gifted offensive player, Cerrone’s defense, framing, pitch management, and team leadership were recognized league-wide. The arrival of defensive whiz Kevin Wassink in the early 2020s allowed Minyard to shift to third.

The defensive prowess fielded by Philly in the mid-2020s was unparalleled, and allowed a solid rotation to become spectacular. The last major piece was Eduardo Garcia, a power-hitting OF who drove the club’s offensive attack, putting runs over the plate for the pitchers in order to build Philadelphia a 96 win team and the franchise’s first Conference title and championship in 15 seasons as they beat El Paso in seven (establishing a cruel pattern of championship victories over the Sun Kings).

The 2025 win ushered in an amazing decade for the Athletics: between 2025 and 2036 the club averaged 88 wins a season, with their worst finish an 80-74 mark in 2034. Minyard and Byrd departed the team after the ‘25 season, but the club was bolstered by the arrival of RF Jose Maldonado, and starters Steve Romano and Jordan Luna. They won 94 games and a championship (again a seven game win over El Paso) in 2027, and then a string of good seasons eclipsed by title runs from Boston and Baltimore, before returning to the top in 2032 (again beating El Paso, this time in six). Eduardo Garcia, who had won the 2028 MVP and had established himself as the face of the franchise, led the A’s to one more in 2036, in what would prove to be his final season in Philadelphia. Of course, the A’s once again topped the El Paso Sun Kings for their fifth championship in as many tries.

Philadelphia faces Cycle 11 with uncertainty - losing Garcia leaves them with few established stars and a lot of questions. But for Philadelphia, it seems to always be a question of when, not if.

Best Position Player: there is an outrageous amount of competition for this title, as Philadelphia has three Hall of Famers and two players who will likely go in with a Philly cap in Corey Cerrone and Eduardo Garcia. But there’s only one Mr. Athletic, and that’s the great Mike Minyard, who stands tall as the greatest shortstop in Federation history.

Best Pitcher: the A’s have long been a great defensive team, but have rarely had a great pitcher. Steve Romano is the exception, and will get Hall of Fame consideration whenever his storied career comes to a close. He is far and away the A’s leader in most counting categories for pitchers, and was a key part of all four of the club’s most recent championships.

Best Season: Athletics fans will still tell you where they were when the team rallied from behind in game 7 to beat the Sun Kings in 2025. That year holds special importance in Philly, with more wins than any other season, a long-awaited championship, and the departure of both Mike Minyard and Brent Byrd.

Next: the Top Five Teams

01-13-2023, 07:43 PM	#17
ArquimedezPozo Minors (Triple A) Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 226	12. The Salt Lake Gulls Overall Record: 2309-2311, .500 Conference Titles: 9 (D4W 2007-2009, D3W 2011-2012, 2019-2021, 2032) Division Championships: 4 (D4 2007-2009, 2019) Last Place Finishes: 8 Original/Lowest Division: 4 Highest Division: 2 Current Division: 3 It’s hard to capture in words the excitement that gripped Salt Lake City in those first few years of the NABF, as their team defied the odds and became the ultimate symbol of what the new league structure could achieve. Salt Lake City was not used to winning baseball, an afterthought in a sprawling Pacific Coast League that tended to be dominated by clubs from CA coastal cities. But when they found themselves instead in Division 4, they took off and have never looked back. There had actually been cautious hope for SLC even before the NABF. Careful drafting and management had given them some exciting young players, and 27 year old RF Carlos Jara had already become a star by the time the Federation began play. 1B Ben Tafoya showed promise, as did starter Alex Mendoza and SS Mike Kohler, before an achilles rupture ended his career prematurely. The move to a D4 stage launched them all into the stratosphere, though, and none more than Jara. His first season in the NABF was legendary, as he won the D4 Triple Crown out of the gate, with 48 homers, 131 RBI, and a batting line of .349/.420/.744 (that SLG remains an NABF single season record to this day). Salt Lake City ran away with the D3 East in 2007, and then again in 2008, before blowing the doors off the place in 2009 with a 96 win campaign. They won the championship in each of those seasons, conquering Memphis, then New Orleans, then Nashville. Once in Division 3, the dominance continued: Salt Lake won 90 in their first season in the D3 West and finished a game behind San Diego, but then ripped off 101 and 95 win campaigns in 2011 and 2012, winning the Conference but losing to Malcolm Bush’s Indianapolis Clowns both times. Still, by the time 2012 came to a close, the Gulls were headed up to Division 2 once again. They were the poster children of the NABF: one of the smallest markets in the game, a team that had always had trouble staying relevant before the NABF, was suddenly a world-beater. Sadly for Salt Lake, they storybook got darker in Division 2. As their core started to age, and free agency came calling, the Gulls had their first losing season in 2013, finishing fourth in the D2 West. Facing financial issues, the club traded Jara in the middle of 2014, on their way to a last place finish. In 2015 the club wound up in second place, but that was more due to a weak Conference than anything else, as they lost more games than they won. Cycle 4 was a disaster, as the club lost 85+ games each year, to sink back down to D3. But instead of doing what most thought they would - sink back down to D4 - the Gulls reloaded. Those years of losing in D2 allowed them to gather some outstanding talent: CF Daniel Winchester, SP Dan Costa both debuted during Cycle 4. So, too, did superstar 1B Dennis Milligan, who quietly hit more home runs in NABF play than all but one other player (Pedro Quiroz, whose career Milligan’s largely overlapped with). Salt Lake silenced critics with a championship run in their first season back in D3, then two more first place finishes, running the table in Cycle 5 and vaulting back to Division 2. Since then, the story hasn’t been great, but neither has it been awful. Salt Lake held on in Division 2 for a couple cycles, before dropping back down to D3, where they’ve remained since. While they’ve largely had a losing record over that span, there have been good moments, including a 2032 D3 West title. It was the franchise’s 9th, tied for fourth-most with a few teams and behind only the trinity of Boston, Baltimore, and El Paso. Salt Lake fans, meanwhile, watch and wait, no longer accepting that their team is a perennial loser. Best Position Player: on a franchise that boasts one Hall of Famer in Carlos Jara and another possible one in Dennis Milligan, Daniel Winchester might seem like an odd choice. But both of the others’ times in Salt Lake were relatively short, while Winchester was an anchor of the club for his entire career. And while lack of longevity holds him off lists of all-time greats, his prime years were exceptional - a 30 HR, Gold Glove center fielder with seven straight 5+ WAR seasons. He deserves it. Best Pitcher: Sean Ruiz was only a Gull for 8 seasons, but he was outstanding for the club over much of its difficult time in D2 while putting up 37.7 WAR. Best Season: Despite all their great years, there’s really no question about this: it’s the 101 win, D3 West title season in 2011, the capper of an amazing run. 11. The New York Giants Overall Record: 2451-2169, .531 Conference Titles: 7 (D1E 2007, 2011-2012, 2033; D2E 2018, 2023-2024) Division Championships: 4 (D1 2011; D2 2018, 2023-2024) Last Place Finishes: 5 Original/Highest/Current Division: 1 Lowest Division: 2 The New York Giants are one of the oldest continuous teams in the NABF, with roots stretching back well over 100 years before the Federation’s founding. As one of the top teams in the highly competitive Mid-Atlantic League, the Giants had among the game’s largest and most self-assured fanbases (though perhaps some would have used different words there). So it was something of a shock to the system when the Giants entered the NABF to an uneven first few seasons: in fact, their GM was fired in just their second season in the Federation after a surprise last-place finish largely fueled by injury. In Cycle 2, it seemed the ship had righted itself: New York won over 90 games in each season of the cycle, winning D1 for the first time with a Series victory over the Angels in 2011, though a rematch had the opposite result the following season. One of the biggest factors in their success was a young right fielder named Max Hinkle, who had debuted in 2008 (his twin brother John emerging as a star for crosstown rival Brooklyn the following season). Hinkle was a sensation: his .371 average in 2010 remains a D1 record, but he did it with power, slugging .681 with 50 homers (also a record, but one that would be eclipsed the following season). Hinkle’s otherworldly production in the early 2010s drove a powerful Giants offense while the 1-2 tandem of Hall of Famer Mike O’Neill and Doug Trujillo kept opponents down. The Giants seemed on top of the world. But in Cycle 3, things started to go wrong. O’Neill departed, wooed by a large contract in Montreal. Then Hinkle departed to El Paso, whose new financial resources gave them the ability to outspend the Giants.Trujillo, entering his late 30s, was no longer as effective, and neither were the Giants: they were barely above .500 in 2013, and then lost 84 and 94 games the next two seasons. In a Division 1 full of competitors, New York was the odd team out - the largest market in the US, relegated to the second-class division. Thus began the yo-yo years, as All-Star catcher Corey Heib later called them: In Division 2, the Giants were champions, but in Division 1 they were goats. In Division 2, they won championships in 2018, 2023, and 2024. In Division 1, they finished last in 2015, 2019, and 2020. In all, between 2016 and 2025 the Giants flipped divisions four times, up and down, with fans getting whiplash along the way. By 2025, they had re-established themselves, though, and a return to Division 1 this time was not disastrous. In fact, the club won 90 their first season back behind the great leadoff hitter Julio Blea, Rookie of the Year 2B Jose Romero, and an aging Malcolm Bush, experiencing Division 1 competition for the first time in his career. They came in second in 2025 and in an 89-win 2026, but had clearly returned strong. The team averaged about 82 wins over the next ten seasons, despite a relegation scare at the end of Cycle 8, and in 2033 won 96 games for another Conference title, this time courtesy of the incredible SS Mike Burcham, who combined Gold Glove defense with a .343/.411/.433 batting line and 8.4 WAR to win the D1 MVP. They have also since signed Matt Wood, probably already established as the greatest catcher in NABF history at just 31 years old, giving the Giants two outstanding all-around talents at the two most important positions on the diamond. Best Position Player: this was harder than it should have been on the team that gave the league Max Hinkle: Julio Blea has slightly more career WAR over a career spent mostly with New York. But Max Hinkle is one of the three or four best position players in the Federation’s history, and much of that legacy was carved in Giants orange, so he gets the nod here. Best Pitcher: this on the other hand is easy. Mike O’Neill is New York’s defining pitcher and one of the best in NABF history. He won 101 games for New York with a 72 FIP- and over 46 WAR in just eight seasons in New York. Best Season: They’ve won more games in other years, but the 95 win 2011 was the team’s first championship, and the only one of its four that featured Hinkle and O’Neill in Division 1. 10. The Sacramento Solons Overall Record: 2388-2232, .517 Conference Titles: 9 (D4W 2018-2019, 2021, 2032-2033; D3W 2024, 2034-2036) Division Championships: 3 (D4 2021; D3 2034-2035) Last Place Finishes: 3 Original Division: 3 Lowest Division: 4 Highest/Current Division: 2 While the Solons might not leap to mind as one of the ten greatest teams in the Federation’s history, they have an impressive record of success. Only six franchises can claim more winning seasons than Sacramento’s 20, and only three can claim more first place seasons than their 9. They’re one of the current crop of teams vying to join Baltimore as the only teams to play in all four divisions, as they prepare to play their first games as a Division 2 team in 2037. The Solons were an original Division 3 franchise, but didn’t last long there the first time around, opening NABF play with a relegation after a 2009 last place finish with just 63 wins. The club remained mired in Division 4 for four cycles, spending the first seven seasons as a mostly middling franchise, placing second a couple times but mostly finding themselves in the middle of the pack. The only real bright spot in those years was the brilliant play of Hall of Fame CF Preston Franklin, who was 28 when the NABF began play in 2007 and gave the Solons six MVP-level seasons (and two actual MVPs). Franklin left the club after 2015 to spend the last four seasons of his career in Atlanta and Nashville, and so there is no one player we can point to as being a catalyst for the turnaround that began in 2018. In fact the team had been performing at a high level for a couple of years already, with expected win totals higher than actual results in each of the previous two seasons; the Solons just caught up to themselves in 2018. No player collected even 4 WAR for the club that year, with SS Hector Delgado leading the team with 3.9. No one struck out 200, or won 20, or hit 40 homers. But collectively, they ended the season third in runs (690) and fourth in runs allowed (604), winning 86 games, good enough to take the D4 West. They faced off against the Baltimore Terrapins, making their first appearance, and the Terrapins won (as they’d do so often over the next four cycles). But the groundwork was there, and the Solons kept winning: in 2019 they ended with 94 wins behind stellar campaigns from 1B Allen Lockwood and SP Marcus Chiero, plus an out of nowhere MVP campaign from journeyman leadoff man Josh Hood, who hit .296/.424/.477 with 6 WAR despite hitting not a single homer all season (he had just six in his career, with half coming in a single season). Again the Solons lost in the championship, though, to Memphis in seven. In 2020, they missed the Conference title by a single game. By recent standards, then, 2021 - 89 wins, and expected total of just 84 - was a letdown. But they ended it where they wanted to be, in first place in the D4 East, clinching a promotion, and then won their first championship while taking revenge on Baltimore for 2018. The Solons romped, winning in 5, and departed Division 4 on a high note. The Division 3 transition was at first difficult: the club lost 88 games in 2022. But they improved to 70-84 the following year, and by 2024 they were back: an 86 win season gave them first place in the D3 West and a shot at another title just three years after their first. Naturally, they once again faced the Terrapins, who had been promoted from D4 East the same year the Solons came up from the West. The Pins were in the opening years of their incredible run, on the verge of the two greatest seasons in NABF history, and while Sacramento hung with them, they were overmatched, losing the 2024 championship series four games to two. As Baltimore moved up, Sacramento remained. The next few years were spent in rebuild mode. After 2025, the Solons had a major regression, losing 85 games in 2025 and 84 the following season. For the next few years, the club danced around .500, without being able to establish younger talent (and missing on a couple of mid-range free agents). A pitching staff, though, began to coalesce at the turn of the 2030s. SP Vince Lipps won a Pitcher of the Year in 2029, and though subsequent seasons were not as effective Lipps proved to be a consistent back of the rotation presence. Adam Rollins, too, demonstrated reliability in the early 2030s, though his traditional stats didn’t reflect the reality well. By 2032, the Solons had become contenders again thanks to that staff and a balanced lineup that produced a top four D4 offense, and despite an 80-74 record they snuck off with the D4 West. Improvement in 2033 was pronounced, with an improved offense thanks to the emergence of on-base/power threat Alejandro Flores, who led D4 with a .407 OBP and .383 wOBA while hitting 32 homers. Though both seasons ended without a title, the back to back first place finishes guaranteed them a move up. Rather than struggle with new competition, the Solons thrived. A prescient trade brought them a promising arm, Josh Argo, from the Senators for two low-level minor leaguers, and Argo bloomed immediately; he would go on to win both the 2035 and 2036 Pitcher of the Year awards in D3. With Argo now heading a deep rotation, the Solons held opponents to a D3 West best 644 runs in 2034, beating Nashville for their first D3 title. They repeated in 2035, as Argo won Pitcher of the Year (the first of his two consecutive). They were even better in 2036, winning 96 games while allowing a D3-best 530 runs and improving their offense as Flores had a career year. They were swept by Detroit in a disappointing series, but that made it five Conference titles in a row, and a drama-free promotion to Division 2. With two younger stars in Argo and Flores, and a solid core behind them, perhaps the Solons can do what only their old rivals the Terrapins have done before: win six Conference titles in a row. Best Position Player: Preston Franklin, the team’s only Hall of Famer, holds a bevy of team records and is the most recognizable player in the franchise’s history. Best Pitcher: Give Argo a few years and it might be him, but for now rotation-mate Adam Rollins winds up as the consensus choice. He has moved on to Memphis for the 2037 season, but he has arguably been Sacramento’s most stable rotation presence, and his consistency puts him at the top of the career WAR list for the club. Best Season: It wasn’t one of their three title seasons, but 2036 saw the club win an all-time best 96 games with some outstanding individual performances, and earn promotion to Division 2. 9. The San Diego Padres Overall Record: 2312-2308, .500 Conference Titles: 8 (D3W 2009-2010, 2025, 2027; D4W 2017, 2023-2024; D2W 2030) Division Championships: 6 (D3 2009-2010, 2027; D4 2017, 2024; D2 2030) Last Place Finishes: 5 Original Division: 3 Lowest Division: 4 Highest/Current Division: 2 If you want to understand the NABF in all its chaos and glory, you must understand the San Diego Padres. The Padres are among the winningest franchise in the Federation in terms of championships, tied for second behind only Baltimore, and the only non-Baltimore team to win championships in three different divisions, a feat they accomplished with a 2030 D2 win. They’ve been relegated twice (counting finishing last in Division 4 during 2021) and promoted twice. They have an almost even record, four games over .500 in a span of 30 years. They have the third-most combined MVPs and Pitchers of the Year, but only one Hall of Famer. They may not be the best team on the list, but they’re certainly the one that best defines the league. There’s no way anyone in San Diego could have predicted their place on this list after the first 15 years of Federation play. The team had won back-to-back D3 championships in 2009-2010 (split between Cycle 1 and Cycle 2, denying the Padres a promotion), powered by the great two-way star Ryan Little. Little was an instant sensation - a 22 year old rookie at the Federation’s inception, he won D3’s MVP that season. He would go on to win the next three as well, making him one of only three NABF players with four MVPs and the only to win them in consecutive seasons. His contributions came both as a hitter and as a pitcher, in 2008 leading the division in pitching WAR with 7.5 (and winning his only Pitcher of the Year) while adding another 6.1 WAR as a position player - easily the highest single season WAR in NABF history at 13.6. As the Padres swept the Clown in the D3 series that year, Little contributed a double and a homer to win series MVP. The following season the Padres returned to the series after 91 wins to take the D3 West, and won a seven game series over Nashville. After 2010, things went south for San Diego. The pitching staff - including Little, who declined somewhat significantly after 2012 on both sides of the ball - sank from 2nd in the division runs allowed to sixth, then lower over the next few seasons. The offense fared even worse, as the Padres were regularly among the lowest-scoring teams in D3. In 2015, the team went 60-94, and combined with subpar seasons in the first two years of Cycle 3 found themselves kicked down to the lowest division. They met with early success in Division 4, winning 86 games and the Conference in 2017 then making it past the Zephyrs for their third trophy. But even then, the team sank quickly: in Cycle 5 they never won more than 70 games, ending the final year of the cycle (2021) with an abysmal 63-91 record, “relegated” despite no place to go. The next nine seasons, though, would be extraordinary. In 2022, the Padres fought to an even 77-77 record largely through career years: journeyman SP Allen Clary put up 4.1 WAR and an 84 FIP-, better than he’d ever done by a decent margin; veteran Gordie Bandy nearly matched that despite an even less successful career. OF Dustin Weaver had the first of two excellent seasons in SD, his first (and last) two good seasons anywhere. It all would have been easy to write off, except they got even better in 2023, picking up another two-way great Nick Goodwin for his age 30 season while young 2B Rich MacDougal competed for Rookie of the Year and starter Philippe Galois won Pitcher of the Year with an out of nowhere season. The Padres snuck into first place that season, winning 84, losing to Charlotte in the championship. In 2024, the Padres won just 81 games but still took 1st in the D4 West, and this time they didn’t miss, downing Memphis in seven to earn promotion back to Division 3. While most observers expected the club to bounce back down instantly, they stuck, and they won. In 2025 that was done in dramatic style: the regular season ended in a three-way tie for first in the D3 West between San Diego, Calgary, and Phoenix. Calgary had the best record against the other two, giving them a bye in the three-team playoff. San Diego got by Phoenix, and then drubbed Calgary to secure the 2025 Conference title. The Ottawa Champions beat them in the series, but San Diego showed they weren’t just going to roll back down to D4. And they didn’t: an 83 win second place team didn’t inspire but certainly didn’t embarrass, and then came 2027. The big offseason development for San Diego was the acquisition of former Boston 3B Steve Bay, who responded to a move to D3 with his best season in years. Rich MacDougal got on base at a .400 clip, and Nick Goodwin had the best year of his later career, with 29 homers and 102 RBI at the plate while throwing 191 innings, putting up 5.1 WAR and allowing only three home runs. The Padres won 90 games, the only time in franchise history they’ve reached that mark, and won the D3 West by 13 games before defeating New Orleans for their fifth crown, and third in D3. The victory moved them up to Division 2 - just six years after losing Division 4 in Cycle 5, the Padres were at an unprecedented level. They kept winning in D2 - a slightly sub-.500 2028 gave way to a strong second place in 2029 led by journeyman rotation anchor Tom Sutton and young ace Scott Wedell, who won the division’s Pitcher of the Year. In 2030 they improved even further, thanks especially to the incredible second season of young starter Pedro Llopiz. While not beloved by teammates or fans (he famously denigrated the city of San Diego in an interview immediately after one of the greatest-pitched games in NABF history, his 17 strikeout no-hitter against Columbus in early 2032) there was no denying his talent. Llopiz, who has transitioned to the bullpen after several exceptional years in the rotation, set a D2 record with his 1.66 ERA in 2030 as he struck out nearly 40% of the batters he faced, capturing the first of two Pitcher of the Year awards. But Llopiz was just one part of an incredible Padres pitching staff, with Wedell giving the club his best season and #3 starter Josh Beck putting up a 2.92 ERA, 2.67 FIP (70 FIP-) with 30% of batters striking out against him. The result was a pitching staff that was far and away the best in the Division, allowing just 3.3 runs a game with second place Toronto up at 3.8. While the offense ranked near the bottom in runs, this was one of the best run prevention teams in the game, and they were rewarded with their sixth championship, becoming the second team with titles in three divisions. Since then, the Padres have trended downward again. Llopiz signed with Austin after the 2032 season, while Wedell departed for LA, and the Padres sunk back down the standings, finishing in fifth place in both 2034 and 2035 with fewer than 70 wins. But a turnaround 2036 gives fans room for hope, with Beck continuing to perform and with the emergence of new talents like SP Brice Asmus and RF Jason Turnquist. The Padres are proof that anything can happen in the NABF, so who knows? Maybe the next D1 team is being born right now in southern California. Best Player: We’ll use this category specifically for the Padres, because Ryan Little could make a strong case at both of the other two below and this lets us mention other folks too. Little is among the best all-around players in NABF history and one of the great two-way players as well. No player has been more of a San Diego icon. Best Position Player: Rich MacDougal debuted at second for the Padres in 2023 and was an All-Star level performer every season he wore a San Diego uniform. He is just barely second to Ryan Little in career WAR by a position player, and holds the franchise mark in OBP (.396). Best Pitcher: had Pedro Llopiz worked harder to endear himself to fans and teammates, he likely wouldn’t have been traded away and might be here. Instead, this title goes to Josh Beck, who is the Padres’ all-time leader in wins, WAR, and strikeouts, while pitching all thirteen of his seasons with the Pads. Best Season: Difficult choices for a club that’s won a lot, but without a truly dominant season. The D2 championship in 2030 stands out due to the brilliance of its pitching staff and its historic nature, so that’s the choice. 8. The Tampa Tarpons Overall Record: 2463-2158, .533 Conference Titles: 8 (D2E 2008, 2015-2016, 2019, 2035-2036; D3E 2031-2032) Division Championships: 4 (D2 2015, 2019, 2035; D3 2032) Last Place Finishes: 3 Original Division: 2 Lowest Division: 3 Highest/Current Division: 1 The Tampa Tarpons are arguably the most successful Division 2 team in NABF history. Only three of their 30 seasons have been played outside the Division, during a short-lived relegation, and the Tarpons have three D2 championships, more than anyone else. Of the nine teams that have played half or more of their seasons in D2, they’ve averaged more wins and more winning seasons, and have the most Conference titles - in fact, it’s hard to find a team in any Division that’s been as successfully competent as the Tarpons. They’ll begin a new phase in Cycle 11, having been promoted to Division 1, but for now let’s look back at what got them here. Tampa was an original D2 team due to the large population of the greater Tampa Bay region. The team was a modest success in its first few NABF seasons, finishing second in 2007 and taking the D2 East in 2008 behind ace Enrique Ubeda, 2B Mike Harris, and the great OF Roberto Nieves, Tampa Bay’s only Hall of Fame inductee to date. Nieves was a rookie in 2008, but performed admirably with a .275/.358/.488 line, 17 homers, and 26 steals while playing strong defense. A string of subpar seasons followed the 2008 first-place finish, including one of their two franchise 6th place finishes, but they were never bad, exactly - even the last place year, 2010, saw them break even at 77-77 in a competitive conference. Nieves was outstanding in those years, though he fell short of the MVP in both 2013 and 2014 despite strong arguments in favor; the team around him, though, wasn’t up to the task. Ironically, that changed in Nieves’ worst Tampa seasons, between 2015 and 2017, as a core of younger players, supplemented by a strong bench and bullpen, propelled Tampa first to the 2015 D2 East title and then to the Division 2 Championship, a sweep of the Tijuana Potros. The season was the first for young LF/DH Nate Hicks, who had a strong run of years in the late 2010s with Tampa; he was named the 2015 Championship Series MVP after homering, doubling twice, and putting up a .944 OPS over the four game set. This was the start of Tampa’s first golden age: over the five seasons between the start of 2015 and the end of 2019, the Tarps averaged just under 90 wins a season while taking three Conference titles and two Division Championships. Hall of Famer Doug Peternek spent a few excellent years with the club in that span. Nieves, too, had a second life late in the decade, winning the 2018 MVP at age 34 with a .287/.403/.531 line, 26 homers, and a D2-best 6.3 WAR. He would go on to win his second in his final season, his only outside Tampa: in Indianapolis, Nieves carried a .900 OPS into the final week of the season and then, in the team’s 149th game of the year on September 28, suffered what turned out to be a career-ending torn labrum. He is the only NABF player to end his career in an MVP season. Unsurprisingly, the departure of Nieves after 2020 didn’t do the club any favors. Over the next couple seasons the team fell down the standings, winning just 69 games in 2022 (the only sub-70 win season in their history, a feat no other team can claim) and ending in fifth. In all, the Tarpons finished below .500 in four straight years between 2021 and 2024, their longest stretch. Despite that, they were always relatively close to .500, and over that span finished no lower than 5th, thereby avoiding relegation. The Tarpons of the 20s were a run-prevention powerhouse, with a great starting core and a defense highlighted by 8-time Gold Glove winner Miguel Torres (who the Tarpons had practically stolen in a trade with Boston before the 2020 season). In Cycle 7 the club flirted with postseason play a couple of times, falling short. The next decade was a tumultuous and ultimately glorious one for Tampa. In Cycle 8, despite averaging over 75 wins a season, the Tarpons were relegated for the first time in their history due to an exceptionally strong conference. The relegation was a shock to the fanbase and meant that several established players were able to opt-out of contracts. But that opened up space for some prospects, and they bloomed. The 2031 season, Tampa’s first in Division 3, brought new stars to the fore: RF Paul Leuchter, who would win a season and a Championship MVP in the coming years; the gifted defensive shortstop Willie Soto;corner IF Adrian St. Germain; rotation anchor Drew Robinson; and speedster TJ Carcone, who will likely smash the all-time NABF triples mark in the next three seasons and whose 406 stolen bases already rank in the top 15 all-time. With this young group the Tarpons made short work of Division 3, winning 90 games and the conference in 2031. In 2032 the club made an inspired trash-heap pickup of journeyman starter Josh Wimmer, who put together a season for the ages, winning his first Pitcher of the Year at 35 after a career of only barely above replacement value. The Tarpons won the Championship that season, and by Cycle 10 were back in Division 2. In the three years since, the Tarpons - under new manager Vince Lorek - have been arguably the best franchise in the Federation.Three straight 90+ win seasons. Two Conference titles. A Championship, in 2035. Multiple individual awards. And, of course, a long-awaited promotion to Division 1, for the team that’s won more games in Division 2 than any other. Now we wait and see if this run of Tarpon brilliance comes to an end, or if they keep reaching new heights. Best Position Player: Nieves is the clear answer, despite the multiple excellent position players currently on the club. He’s Tampa’s only Hall of Famer, and a franchise-defining player. Best Pitcher: Tampa has never had a genuinely great pitcher, but Drew Robinson spent the entirety of his relatively short NABF career with the club, holds the team wins, winning percentage, and WAR records. Best Season: 97 wins and a Championship is about as good as it gets, and that’s what Tampa did in 2019, Roberto Nieves’ second-to-last Tampa season, and one of his best. 7. The Seattle Steelheads Overall Record: 2349-2226, .518 Conference Titles: 9 (D3W 2013-2014, 2018, 2023; D2W 2027-2029; D1W 2033-2034) Division Championships: 3 (D3 2023; D1 2033-2034) Last Place Finishes: 2 Original Division: 2 Lowest Division: 3 Highest/Current Division: 1 Only two teams in NABF history have ever won back-to-back Division 1 Championships. The first, the Los Angeles Angels, did it back in the teens and have been a D1 team through and through for thirty seasons. But Seattle is a relative newcomer to D1, and their back to back 2033-2034 titles are made all the more impressive for that. The Steelheads - who began life as the Seattle Pilots before a celebrated name change after Cycle 6 - have been a consistently competitive team; they’ve never had more than three losing seasons in a row and their 9 conference titles have stretched through every era of the Federation’s history. They’ve also been one of the most skilled run prevention teams in Federation history. The Pilots, as they were known then, were one of the largest markets in the old Pacific Coast League and began their time in the Federation in Division 2, along with regional rival Vancouver. Vancouver got the best of those early years as they blasted their way to two D2 Championships in the first two seasons. Seattle finished just two games behind them in 2007, but sank to fourth in 2008 and then suffered the worst season of their history, a 95 loss last place finish that got them dropped to Division 3. They would spend the next four cycles in D3, regularly successful but not quite successful enough for promotion. In those early years - in fact from the very inception of the NABF - the Pilots franchise was synonymous with 1B Danny Diaz. His presence on a lower division, sometimes losing club made him more anonymous than he should have been, but Diaz was one of the most consistently excellent stars in the game, a constant on-base and power threat. Diaz’s career .404 OBP is tenth all time, while he ranks in the top 15 all-time in homers with 468. He is the NABF all-time HBP leader. He beat you with the bat any way he could, and was rewarded for it with consecutive MVPs in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Those were good years for Seattle, as they bounced back from a 2010 last place D3 West finish to take the conference in 2013 and 2014, with 90 and 99 wins respectively, though they lost in the Championship Series in each (first to Charlotte and then to Nashville). That 2014 club added future Hall of Famer Ramon Rodriguez, creating the best 3-4 combo in the game and surrounded it with a talented group of hitters such as SS Scott Smith and LF Pat van Valkenburg. The real strength of the club, though, lay in its run prevention: a top defense and excellent rotation led by ace John Davenport and free agent acquisition Stephen Christie held opponents to 460 runs, the lowest in D3. While the lineup remained strong in 2015, the pitching started to fall apart - Davenport remained strong, but Christie began a decline and the club finished in the middle of the pack in runs allowed and in the standings. A rebound in 2017 and 2018 led to another Conference title in the latter year, but the season ended with Seattle still searching for a Division Championship. The offseason was made worse by management’s (ultimately correct) decision not to re-sign Danny Diaz, who finished his Hall of Fame career with subpar seasons in El Paso and Baltimore. Their next chance came in 2023, ironically with the weakest team Seattle had ever sent to the playoffs - an 89 win team that somewhat overperformed, the 2023 Pilots had few real stars but ranked in the top four in both runs and runs allowed as a couple of key players had career years (including starter Mike Tait, who benefited from a rather incredible .225 BABIP). But this turned out to be the one: despite facing a Terrapins team approaching the height of their powers, Seattle stunned D3 with a win in six games to claim their first Division title. What’s more, the victory gave them a ticket back to Division 2. Before arriving there in the 2025 season, ownership made a name change: the Pilots became the Steelheads, and coincidence or not, the team became a consistent winner. After a couple of second place seasons back in D2, the Steelheads emerged as the top power in the D2 West, winning three straight conference titles between 2027 and 2029. The incredible Terrapins of this period beat them soundly once again in the 2027 D2 Championship, though, and despite a great four year run by starter Antonio Duran leading another strong pitching team, the club lost the next two in heartbreaking fashion - seven games each, to a powerful Chicago Whales team. But for Seattle it was enough: two Conference titles punched their ticket to Division 1 in time for the start of the 2030s. Adjustment was hard, and the club lost 91 games that first season. By 2033, though, they achieved the ultimate goal: they won the D1 West - only the sixth franchise to ever do so - and took the title four games to two over a vastly more powerful New York Giants club that won 96 games. Seattle once again was the little team that could: in the bottom third of D1 in runs scored, the pitching of Duran, ace Hector Razo, and young star Jeff Baltimore led D1 in run prevention, and kept New York’s dreaded offense down enough to win. That brought them into Cycle 10, and in 2034 the club had one of their finest seasons, winning 93 games and the conference. Hector Razo won his second Pitcher of the Year, Duran and Baltimore were more than capable, and the Seattle bullpen was among the best in the league, leading the team to victory in seven games over Toronto, and into history as only the second team to win back-to-back D1 championships. The club has struggled since, with a couple of losing seasons heading into Cycle 11, but this Seattle team has shown they never stay down for long. As long as they’ve got the arms, they’ll be just fine. Best Position Player: the franchise cornerstone Danny Diaz is the only possible answer here. He is the franchise leader is effectively every major offensive categories except triples and stolen bases, and is the team’s only representative in the Hall of Fame. Best Pitcher: for a club as dependent on pitching as Seattle has been in their history, it’s surprisingly difficult to select a best. Antonio Duran rises to the top due to his quality and his longevity while Seattle has had better pitchers, they haven’t all stayed very long. Best Season: 93 wins, and only the second D1 team to win a second consecutive championship makes the 2034 squad a good consensus pick here. 6. The Philadelphia Athletics Overall Record: 2473-2141, .535 Conference Titles: 5 (D1E 2010, 2025, 2027, 2032, 2036) Division Championships: 5 (D1 2010, 2025, 2027, 2032, 2036) Last Place Finishes: 2 Only Division: 1 When the Athletics come for you, they don’t miss. There’s only one other 5-for-5 championship team in the NABF, and that’s the St. Paul Saints… who have had losing seasons in virtually every other season they’ve played. The Athletics stand alone as the best October team in the Federation, and one of the best in all the other months, too. With a deep all-time list of legendary performers and performances, Philadelphia is one of the cornerstone franchises of Division 1, and one of just four teams to have been a member of that Division since its beginning. Philadelphia was one of the largest markets in the new NABF, an easy Division 1 selection before 2007. But even so, amid huge D1 East markets in New York, Brooklyn, Toronto, and Chicago, they felt almost like an afterthought, especially after opening play with a couple of mediocre clubs in 2007 and 2008. 2009 was better, but the team still finished in second, a game back of the Dodgers. It was in 2010 that the first great Athletics team stepped to the fore, then, winning 93 games and the D1 East. That club was stacked, with three future Hall of Famers leading the way. Starter David Miramontes took the Pitcher of the Year that season, winning 18 with a 2.53 ERA and 71 FIP-. 3B Nate Hall was extraordinary, hitting .355/.435/.691 with 45 homers and an 8.7 WAR, only losing out on the MVP because of Max Hinkle’s record-setting season in New York. And young shortstop Mike Minyard - the greatest shortstop in NABF history and the face of the Athletics for the next fifteen seasons - had his breakout campaign, hitting .312/.384/.473 with 20 homers while taking the first of his seven Gold Gloves, among the most by any shortstop. Philadelphia beat the Angels, in the second year of their amazing five year run, for the franchise’s first championship. Championships bookend Mike Minyard’s time in Philadelphia, as the club spent the next 15 years circling around the .500 mark - five second place finishes, two last place finishes, and an average record of 78-76. Miramontes moved on after 2013, to re-establish his amazing career elsewhere, while Nate Hall (already 30 when the NABF began) also left the club after the 2013 season, spending part of 2014 with San Francisco before retiring. Minyard remained a productive offensive and defensive contributor well into his 30s, and was joined in 2014 by a young RF named Brent Byrd, who would soon establish himself as one of the all-time greats, combining strong defense (6 GGs in right) with prodigious gap power: Byrd is fourth all-time in doubles, NABF-wide. By 2022, catcher Corey Cerrone joined him as a team leader, winning the first of his record eight career Gold Gloves at catcher (a record he holds jointly with Alex Afan and Miguel Torres) that year. While never a gifted offensive player, Cerrone’s defense, framing, pitch management, and team leadership were recognized league-wide. The arrival of defensive whiz Kevin Wassink in the early 2020s allowed Minyard to shift to third. The defensive prowess fielded by Philly in the mid-2020s was unparalleled, and allowed a solid rotation to become spectacular. The last major piece was Eduardo Garcia, a power-hitting OF who drove the club’s offensive attack, putting runs over the plate for the pitchers in order to build Philadelphia a 96 win team and the franchise’s first Conference title and championship in 15 seasons as they beat El Paso in seven (establishing a cruel pattern of championship victories over the Sun Kings). The 2025 win ushered in an amazing decade for the Athletics: between 2025 and 2036 the club averaged 88 wins a season, with their worst finish an 80-74 mark in 2034. Minyard and Byrd departed the team after the ‘25 season, but the club was bolstered by the arrival of RF Jose Maldonado, and starters Steve Romano and Jordan Luna. They won 94 games and a championship (again a seven game win over El Paso) in 2027, and then a string of good seasons eclipsed by title runs from Boston and Baltimore, before returning to the top in 2032 (again beating El Paso, this time in six). Eduardo Garcia, who had won the 2028 MVP and had established himself as the face of the franchise, led the A’s to one more in 2036, in what would prove to be his final season in Philadelphia. Of course, the A’s once again topped the El Paso Sun Kings for their fifth championship in as many tries. Philadelphia faces Cycle 11 with uncertainty - losing Garcia leaves them with few established stars and a lot of questions. But for Philadelphia, it seems to always be a question of when, not if. Best Position Player: there is an outrageous amount of competition for this title, as Philadelphia has three Hall of Famers and two players who will likely go in with a Philly cap in Corey Cerrone and Eduardo Garcia. But there’s only one Mr. Athletic, and that’s the great Mike Minyard, who stands tall as the greatest shortstop in Federation history. Best Pitcher: the A’s have long been a great defensive team, but have rarely had a great pitcher. Steve Romano is the exception, and will get Hall of Fame consideration whenever his storied career comes to a close. He is far and away the A’s leader in most counting categories for pitchers, and was a key part of all four of the club’s most recent championships. Best Season: Athletics fans will still tell you where they were when the team rallied from behind in game 7 to beat the Sun Kings in 2025. That year holds special importance in Philly, with more wins than any other season, a long-awaited championship, and the departure of both Mike Minyard and Brent Byrd. Next: the Top Five Teams Attached Images